The present invention is directed toward a flatware recovery food scraper and more particularly toward such a food scraper which can replace conventional food scrapers but which includes magnet means for preventing the inadvertent loss of stainless steel flatware.
As is well-known in the restaurant business, the loss of silverware or stainless steel flatware is a very serious problem which costs restaurant owners large sums of money every year. The problem stems from careless kitchen help and the manner in which food and debris is removed from used dishes.
Many modern restaurant kitchens utilize stainless steel tables for rinsing dishes and moving them to the dishwasher, etc. Such tables conventionally carry a food scraper which is comprised of a hard rubber cylindrical member approximately five inches in diameter and five inches high. The scraper is mounted with its axis vertical over an opening in the stainless steel table which overlies a garbage can there below. In use, a plate with food or debris and the like is turned upside down over the food scraper and slid there across so that the food from the plate falls through the opening in the center of the food scraper. The upper wall of the scraper scrapes the plate. Any flatware which was on the plate and which may have been hidden under food or paper or other debris would fall through the center of the food scraper into the garbage can without the kitchen help knowing of the same.
Inventions have been proposed in an attempt to alleviate the problem of lost flatware. One such proposal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,792. This patent is directed toward a machine including a conveyer belt having magnetic means associated therewith. Trash and garbage and the like from dishes are placed on the conveyer belt and the same falls from the moving conveyer into a receptacle on the underside of the conveyer belt. The magnet means, however, retain the stainless steel flatware on the conveyer belt until released therefrom at a different position beneath the belt. This system, however, is relatively complex and would be prohibitively expensive for most restaurants. Furthermore, it would take up a great deal of space which is normally at a premium in a restaurant kitchen.
Magnets have also been used in similar environments for preventing the loss of stainless steel flatware. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,869,795 describes a device for preventing damage to a garbage disposal caused by silverware. The device includes a tray upon which is intended to be deposited a quantity of garbage. Batches of the garbage can then be pushed through an opening in the tray into the garbage disposal mounted below. A plurality of magnets mounted beneath the tray attract the silverware or other metal objects to prevent them from being pushed into the opening. While this device may have some usefulness, it is not easily adaptable to a stainless steel table such as described above as additional scraper means would be necessary.